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Paulo Freire's reflection on oppression and injustice
Paulo Freire's reflection on oppression and injustice
Paulo Freire's reflection on oppression and injustice
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The book Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire discusses many ways in which people are oppressed and how many oppressors dehumanize people. One way Freire describes oppression is the fear of freedom. Freire defines fear of freedom as: However, the oppressed, who have adapted to the structure of domination in which they are immersed and have become resigned to it, are inhibited from waging the struggle for freedom so long as they feel incapable of running the risk it requires. (47) When I was 19 years old I experienced fear of freedom for the first time. In this essay I will talk about how my ex-husband, Josh Eckert, imposed a fear of freedom on me starting in the middle of our marriage up until the day I decided to leave. When I was 14 …show more content…
years old I met and fell in love with the man of my dreams, or so I thought. We had a lot of fun together and talked often about marriage and family. At the time little did i know of the oppressor he had inside of him. I married him when I was 18 years old with true conviction that he was the man meant for me. At that time he was a yeoman in the Coast Guard and he got stationed out in Alameda, CA. I went out there with him and shortly after arriving in California I found out that I was pregnant with a baby girl. We were both thrilled, a family is something we had always wanted. The coming of this baby meant that we would finally have a family of our own. Once the baby came things started to go downhill quickly.
Our daughter was born six weeks early and had a tough time nursing. Josh would blame me for that saying that it was my fault that she came early because I didn't take care of myself while I was pregnant. At first, I was able to write it off as frustration and tiredness, but the degrading verbal abuse didn't end there, it just continued to get worse. When my daughter was two weeks old he told me that I should give her up for adoption. He would say that I wasn't a good mom and that I couldn't take care of her the way a real mom would. He constantly told me that I couldn't do anything right so what made me think I could raise a child right. Again, I made excuses for him and resolved that I would just try harder to show him that I could be a good …show more content…
mom. Some months later he was dishonorably discharged from the military and we couldn't afford to live in Califonia anymore so we had to move. My family wasn't an option so he decided we would move in with his father in Phoenix, AZ, who was an abusive alcoholic. It never really concerned me because I truly believed that Josh loved us and would never hurt us or let anyone else hurt us. I was terribly wrong. Four months after moving in with Josh's father I found out that he was having an affair with a dancer that we knew.
When I finally got up the courage to confront him about it he got very angry that I would dare to question something he was doing. He excused his behavior by telling me that this other woman never complained, she was skinnier than i was so that made her more fun to have sex with. He told me that she actually took care of herself and knew how to take care of him. All of these things were so crushing to my spirit. I tried to talk back but as soon as I started to he slapped my face. I fought back and then he took my head and slammed it in the door. That was my awakening moment. I knew this had gone too far and I needed to
leave. Unfortunately, he had me so scared at this point I didn't think I could do it on my own. He told me if I left with our daughter that he would have me arrested for kidnapping. The threats had gotten to an all time high and I knew for the safety of my daughter and for my safety we had to leave and leave quickly. I called my parents to come get us and on July 7th just one day after my daughters first birthday we snuck out in the middle of the night. We drove off and never looked back. It was rough for awhile but I'm proud that I was able to get out of the oppressive relationship. If it hadn't been for the fear of freedom that I felt in my relationship with Josh I would never have grown to be the strong independent mother that I am today. Works Cited Freire, Paolo. Pedagogynof the Oppressed. New York: Continuum 2010
Ruth, Seán. “Theories of Internalized Oppression.” Leadership and Liberation: A Psychological Approach. London: Routledge, 2006. 155-173. Print.
...hile African Americans went through journeys to escape the restrictions of their masters, women went through similar journeys to escape the restrictions of the men around them. Immigrants further strived to fit in with the American lifestyle and receive recognition as an American. All three groups seemed to shape up an American lifestyle. Today, all three of these perceptions of freedom have made an appearance in our lives. As we can see, the transition of freedom from race equality to gender equality shows that freedom has been on a constant change. Everyone acquires their own definition of freedom but the reality of it is still unknown; people can merely have different perceptions of freedom. Nevertheless, in today’s society, African Americans live freely, women are independent, and immigrants are accepted in society. What more freedom can one possibly ask for?
Oppression is not always brought on in a violent and oppositional way, it can take on a peaceful and silent form; however regardless of the way oppression is introduced, it maintains the same characteristics of “imposing belief systems, values, laws and ways of ...
...he “oppressed” will act toward freedom and reintegration into society and will eventually succeed in gaining back their freedom, but it will not be easy. To make steps in the right direction and to determine the right choice, one must take into account the impact silence or non-silence makes on the system as a whole; the better choice does not add to the mass incarceration.
The concept of freedom plays an essential role in Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson. Throughout most of the novel, Alif, the main character, is driven by a desire to gain freedom. The State has a tremendous amount of control over the citizens in the City where Alif lives, and Alif believes that he wants to break free of that control. However, as the novel progresses Alif realizes that freedom is “a moment in which all things [are] possible” (425), and to achieve this society must rid itself of class and hierarchy because these things provide structure which prevents anything from being possible. Though Alif first believes he is fighting for liberty the message G. Willow Wilson actually conveys in this novel is that people’s inherent desire
Control and emotional manipulation are more commonly used in the beginning of a relationship as the “captain” of the house. The abuser starts to control who their spouse can be friends with, when and how they can spend money, and when they can go to town. If the victim of the relationships does anything without their permissions, he or she is emotionally punished by the abuser by threatening to leave the victim, uses guilt, rage, or criticizes. An abuser feeds off of these two types of abuse. A relationship that starts out like this can grow into something potentially more dangerous for the victim. The last three types of abuse are the more dangerous kinds of abuse. Verbal abuse is harmful to the victim’s confidence and self-esteem. Name calling, cruel jokes, and humiliation in public places are all types of verbal abuse that will bring someone into deep depression. Sexual and physical abuse is harmful to the victim’s health. In a healthy relationship, sex is wanted and meaningful; however, if the spouse is being forced to have sex, use unprotected sex, or not allowed to decide about keeping the baby, than this is a health hazard. It is an unhealthy relationship that is untrustworthy and disconnected; therefore, transmitted diseases can spread to the victim. Physical abuse is the more commonly known type of abuse. It is intentional pain from
Freedom has been discussed and debated for a while now and yet no one can completely agree that it exists. Since the Civil, War America has been conditioned to be divided politically. The conflict over the meaning of freedom continues to exist from the civil war, throughout the sixties and in the present. The Civil War was fought over the question of what freedom means in America. The issue was in the open for all to see: slavery. Human slavery was the shameless face of the idea of freedom. The cultural war in the sixties was once more about the question of what freedom is and what it means to Americans. No slaves. Instead, in the sixties and seventies four main issues dominated the struggle for racial equality: opposition to discriminatory immigration controls; the fight against racist attacks; the struggle for equality in the workplace; and, most explosively, the issue of police brutality. For more than two centuries, Americans demanded successive expansions of freedom; progressive freedom. Americans wanted freedom that grants expansions of voting rights, civil rights, education, public health, scientific knowledge and protections from fear.
The author argues that in order for oppression to be vitally explored, the factors that create oppression must be realized. Oppression gives material advantage to the oppressor. "All social relations have material consequences". The author argues that all identities must be considered interconnected.
The idea of freedom can be seen throughout Collection 2 in our textbook. Freedom can be seen in the short story “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela when it talks about the freedom of speech. Addition to that, an article “A People’s History Of The 1963 March On Washington” by Charles Euchner shows freedom in its article when it talks about the segregation occurring to colored men. Lastly, freedom is shown in the graphic novel “Persepolis 2: The Story Of A Return” by Marjane Satrapi as it shows high restriction.
Correspondingly, the oppressed are kept oppressed for beneficial reasons to sustain power. Gonzalez’s experience is not atypical, many undocumented individuals are detained and deported in public places in order to send a negative message to people of color. The oppressors’ goal is to cause more fear for the marginalized communities and silence them from challenging and fighting against the inequities and dehumanization of people of color. Likewise, the oppressors exploit people of color for profit. For instance, “money is the measure of all things, and profit the primary goal” (Freire, 58). In other words, throughout history the oppressors exert power over the marginalized to profit off of them. Similarly to Gonzalez’s case, where her arrested
THE WAYS OF MEETING OPPRESSION IS AN ESSAY WRITTEN BY MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., ADDRESSING SEGREGATION THAT IS SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED TOWARD THE AFRICAN AMERICAN AUDIENCE. King’s primary audience is the African Americans, but also he has secondary audiences that he addresses, which are a combination of Christians or those who know of, or believe in the Christian views, as well as people in the legal system. He gives examples through his text that will demonstrate how he addresses mostly the African Americans, but also the various other audiences he is trying to reach to through his memorable speech. In his writing, he tells of three ways that they deal with oppression, and based on these he sends out a message to all who have read or heard his words. This message states what has been done in the past, as well as what should be done based on these past experiences. King chooses to speak to certain people through certain contexts and key phrases. In choosing certain phrases and also on how he states his words, he is successful in influencing all his audiences that he intended to persuade. The words that he carefully chose will tell how and why he wanted to focus on the primary and secondary audiences of his choice.
As a culture, we are told how to act, think, and speak among other things. We are taught to do what is considered "right" and if we choose not to, we are punished, ridiculed, and considered a menace to society. We are considered thuggish and belittled and put down for living in an alternative way. Don't get me wrong, there is some good in having a controlled society because it brings some order and stability within our society. However, the questions at hand are, could there be a way for those who do realize that we're being controlled to free themselves from the power and control that causes them to become oppressed? Could it be that we are bound and constrained and unable to have some type of agency in order to be free? If we can free ourselves, what type of agency is used?
One must consider the nature of oppression and how it is present within social work. The nature of oppression infiltrates all aspects of life. Social work theorist, defines oppression as “relations that divide people into dominant or superior groups and subordinate or inferior ones. These relations of domination consist of the systematic devaluing of the attributes and contributions of those deemed inferior, and their exclusion from the social resources available to those in the dominant group”. When humans experience a perceived threat to their personal identities and lack the ability to maintain and affirm a unique identity, they exclude others by contrasting themselves against a constructed, and inferior, identity of the other. To better
Nothing in life is guaranteed, but the one thing that humans demand is freedom. Throughout history, there are countless cases where groups of people fought for their freedom. They fought their battles in strongly heated debates, protests, and at its worst, war. Under the assumption that the oppressors live in complete power, the oppressed continuously try to escape from their oppressors in order to claim what is rightfully theirs: the freedom of choice. In Emily Dickinson’s poems #280, #435, and #732 and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, freedom is represented by an individual’s ability to make their own decisions without the guidance, consultation, or outside opinion of others in order to find their true sense of self. Once an individual is physically and spiritually free, they can find their true sense of self.
Oppression is this and so much more than what Ben Harper wrote in his song. Oppression is an unjust or cruel exercise or action of power. Everyone experiences oppression at least once in his or her lives. We have only recently begun to fight the effects of oppression, to gain freedom in our world. Oppression divides us to keep us from maintaining our freedom, what little of it we have. Oppression is completely based on hatred and preys on you when you sleep, or when you are at your lowest point. It kicks you when you are down, and pushes you further down the rabbit’s hole. It forces you to fight when you are the weakest and will take your very last breath. It takes one problem and snowballs until you can not take it anymore. We can learn to fight oppression, if we only make ourselves aware.